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Elemental Interaction

Posted on July 23, 2023

It is easy to get a good handle on the interaction between the deities of Air, Earth, Fire, and Moon. These are of course the elemental pantheons most likely to be found among human cultures (and in the case of the Moon, the pantheon was largely made by humans).

Darkness and Water are different things altogether. Darkness is predominantly worshiped by the trolls – humans rarely dive any deeper than Argan Argar, Annila, or Xentha. Darkness is inherently frightening to mortals (even mortal trolls), and even “gentle” Xiola Umbar can summon darkness spirits that can kill through Fearshock. The deep Darkness of Subere is almost totally unknown to humans.

Same thing with Water. More than 90% of Glorantha’s water is in the seas, home to the Triolini. Humans just dabble at the surface, with rivers and lakes, or a few friendly bays or inlets. Magasta is acknowledged but rarely directly worshiped by humans.

And thus the stories of these pantheons are also the stories of those Elder Races.

I suspect this may be why the elves are easy for humans to interact with than the trolls – almost all of them worship a recognised daughter of Ernalda, and they share several main cults with humans. They *seem* closer to humans than trolls or triolini, and at a certain level they have more mythic ties to humans.

Elves are pretty alien (then again so are the trolls), but many human civilisations have had productive associations with them.

Remember, the elves don’t object to agriculture or even wood use per se – they object to you upsetting the spirits of THEIR forest.

Most elf societies are comprised of the following:

  • Children of the Forest – all the lesser sentient beings of the forest
  • High King Elf – most of elf society, guardians and caretakers of the forest
  • Shamans – specialists in dealing with forest spirits
  • Elder Sister – the spirits of Aldrya (dryads)
  • Wood Lords – war leaders and protectors
  • The Gardeners – the rulers of elf society

Jeff Richard

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